WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Six Democratic U.S senators urged the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday to bar airlines from further shrinking airplane seat size.
The senators including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal said airlines have been shrinking seat sizes since at least the 1990s — with seat pitch, which determines leg room, decreasing from 32 to 28 inches, and seat width decreasing from 19 to as little as 16 inches.
“We urge the FAA to comprehensively review the safety factors impacting seat pitch, width, and length and ensure that such safety factors take into account the entirety of the American public – including children, senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and others,” the senators wrote to FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen.
“The FAA should immediately issue a moratorium prohibiting additional reduction in seat size,” they wrote.
The FAA and Airlines for America, an industry trade group, did not immediately comment on the letter.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
